Important government business

It's a good thing the Massachusetts State Senate is on top of the most pressing issues of the day.

It's creamy, it's sweet and it's become a staple of lunch boxes for generations of New England school children.

Now, the beloved Fluffernutter sandwich _ the irresistible combination of Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter, preferably on white bread with a glass of milk handy _ finds itself at the center of a sticky political debate.

Sen. Jarrett Barrios was outraged that his son Nathaniel, a third-grader, was given a Fluffernutter sandwich at the King Open School in Cambridge. He said he plans to file legislation that would ban schools from offering the local delicacy more than once a week as the main meal of the day.

The Democrat said that his amendment to a bill on junk food in schools may seem "a little silly"_ but that school nutrition is [serious].

I can't imagine why people might think it's "a little silly" for a grown man to be "outraged" that a little boy was served a fluffernutter sandwich.

You'll be comforted to know that the response to Barrios' bill haws been much more measured and serious. Oh, wait...

His proposal seemed anything but silly to Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein, a Democrat whose district in Revere is near the company that has produced the marshmallow concoction for more than 80 years, Durkee-Mower Inc.

She responded with a proposal to designate the Fluffernutter the"official sandwich of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

"I'm going to fight to the death for Fluff,"Reinstein said.

I can just picture the distinguished Rep. expiring upon a pile of the corpses of Fluff foes, gasping out, "They can take our lives, but they can never take away our...Fluff!"